Thursday, 4/17/97 UCLA’s last dance Bruins head to Florida in
hopes of grabbing NCAA Championship
By Rachel Kelley Daily Bruin Contributor The nation’s top
women’s gymnastics teams will be vying for the title at the 1997
NCAA National Championships in Gainsville, Fla. today. The
preliminary competition will showcase 12 teams but six will be
eliminated after the first round. The Bruins share a bracket with
LSU, Georgia, Utah, Nebraska and Penn State. Top-ranked Michigan,
Arizona State, Alabama, Florida, Washington and Minnesota comprise
the second bracket. Although Michigan enters the competition as the
No. 1 seed, both Georgia and UCLA are considered the favorites.
"UCLA and Georgia are the two teams picked by most people across
the country to win it all," Nebraska head coach Dan Kendig said.
While talent is a characteristic that both Georgia and UCLA
possess, Georgia’s depth may give them the advantage. "Georgia has
a lot of depth which enables them to put up two different line-ups
on Thursday and Friday, which is something we don’t have," UCLA
head coach Valorie Kondos said. Although the lack of numbers may
make it difficult for the Bruins to compete in four events, two
nights in a row, UCLA’s calmness and confidence in big meets is a
quality that Georgia has not exhibited this season. "Georgia is
really the only team that we haven’t beat this year, but since they
faltered at regionals, they could be too nervous and give us the
advantage," UCLA gymnast, Carmen Tausend said. Despite high team
totals posted by many schools, ASU head coach John Spini tends to
feel that all the teams have a shot at the title. "It’s all about
the team that gets everybody working on the same cylinders and
believing in themselves," Spini said. "There are a lot of great
teams out there this year," he added. In this competition, the
gymnasts will try to take the focus off of winning and instead
concentrate on treating this meet like the average competition.
"Our goal is to do our absolute best by hitting all of our
routines," LSU gymnast Amy Mccloski said. "We have to pretend that
this is just any old meet, and that way we can keep everybody’s
nerves under control." However, preserving one’s physical well
being is as equally important as containing team jitters. "You
don’t go into a workout expecting to see big gymnastics right
before a competition," Tausend said "You see strong athletes who
work on adjusting to the hard floor and the hard boards." Kondos
agrees. "We’ve had to make sure that workouts have been structured
so that the gymnasts don’t train too much," she said. The Arizona
State Sundevils are also concerned with practicing too hard. "We’ve
been laying out in the sun trying to rest our bodies,"Spini said.
Rest will not be readily available to the gymnastics teams once the
competition gets underway. SUSIE MING HWA CHU/Daily Bruin Lena
Degteva will compete in all-arounds.